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Children's House All School News
  Greetings!
October is here and fall is in the air.  Each day your children spend close to an hour outdoors; please provide your child with adequate attire for fall weather.  Rain jackets and boots are recommended as well as a warm jacket. 

We have many exciting events coming up this month:
  • October 6th-9th: Book Fair
  • October 8th is Dad's Night, 5:15 pm-7:00 pm.  All dads, uncles, grandfathers or family friends please join your student for a short work cycle.  Your child is prepared you show you around the classroom and to acquaint you with some works they have been mastering. You can show up anytime during the event, stay for thirty minutes or the whole time! Hope to see you!
  • October 9th All School Field trip to Hauser's Pumpkin Patch.  We will leave the school at 9:30 am and return to school by 11:15 am for lunch and outside time.  See below for more information.
  • October 30th & 31st: NO SCHOOL for Parent/Teacher Conferences.  Sign up forms will be available near your child's sign in log mid October.  Don't miss out on this opportunity to engage in your child's learning process.    

In addition to the aforementioned events, Children's House will be holding two fundraisers in the month of October.  Tea Days is on an online platform from October 13th-19th; families who purchase from this online boutique will afford our school 20% of your purchase.  Keep an eye out for the event link on Facebook and in your email inbox.  Next, Small Hands A Montessori Parents Resource Catalog is offering a group discount and free shipping in the month of October.  Orders are due by October 23rd. Small Hands will contribute 15% of total sales to our school in the form of credit to purchase Montessori Materials.  Catalogs will be available by week's end.  Happy ordering!

 

 
Philosophy Corner:
 
"Works" Spotlight -Language
Each month we will highlight an area of the classroom to further parental understanding of Montessori Principles & Practices.  This month's area of the classroom is "Language" Read More

Home Connection
Beginning this month we will provide families with Montessori at home connections.  This month's theme: Language at Home  Read More
 
All School Field Trip:
Children's House is pleased to continue our tradition of an all school field trip to Hauser's Pumpkin Patch on Thursday October 9th.  We plan to leave the school by 9:30 and will return by 11:30 for lunch and outside time. Check your parent folders for your child's permission form; forms are due Tuesday October 7th.  If Thursday is not your child's regular day to attend, no worries you are welcome to join us at the Pumpkin Patch, located on County Road L just west of HWY 491. 
Since our school does not have transportation we rely on parent volunteers to help transport children to the pumpkin patch.  If you are interested in volunteering please indicate your willingness on your child's permission form.  Alexia will be contacting you to make arrangements.  

Health & Wellness Corner
Sound nutrition and physical activity is essential to the successful education, growth and development of the whole child; therefore Children's House has adopted a new and improved Nutrition & Wellness Program that supports a healthy and active learning environment. 
 
We are pleased to announce in order to support this valuable program, our school now have
Health and Wellness Coordinators to support staff, parents and the program.

Why: To support our school in it's commitment to Health and Wellness.  Focusing on the whole child is a core belief in Montessori teachings and also resonates with the Health and Wellness model of embracing the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual being.  

What: Our Health and Wellness Coordinators support SPARK in our schools, they provide additional counseling to small groups and individual students, they organize and help design curriculum for the  lunch program, and they help develop our after-school programming.

Who: Shamai Buckel ([email protected])  Amy Hartline ([email protected]) are our Coordinators this year.  Please feel free to contact them with question, concerns or comments:

Home Connections: Packing a Nutritious Lunch for your Child
Like many of you I have often felt at a loss for what to pack in my children's lunch, after all it is generally the last thing on mind until ten minutes before we leave the house.  Often times because of busy schedules we have opted for prepackaged meals and beverages to ease the burden of preplanning; let's face it sometimes convenience takes precedence. It wasn't until I took an Early Childhood Health, Safety and Nutrition Class that I realized what I was feeding my children wasn't helping them to do what they came to school do, that is learn. 
 
Packing a school lunch does take a little planning but it doesn't have to be a burden or even break the bank.  Fortunately there are several great websites to help you plan up to a month in advance.  My Plate allows you to enter your child's weight and age then offers you some sample menus.  Notice that this site recommends water and milk as opposed to packaged beverages; also notice the portion sizes, much smaller than the typical lunch many of us pack. Another great way to ease the stress of packing a lunch is to involve your child, that is Montessori after all.  Check out this article for great tips:  Pack a Child's Lunch Montessori Style

 

Speaking of packaged beverages, did you know that a Capri Sun juice pouch contains 4.5 cubes of sugar?  A Motts Apple Juice contains 14 grams of sugar and a small pouch of fruit snacks contains 11 grams of sugar.  Potato chips & other packaged snacks are high in sodium and sugars alike?  Imagine a lunch packed with all these items? To find out the sugar content on what you have been drinking  or eating visit SugarStacks.com and prepare to be mystified.  The Children's House staff strongly encourage parents to omit sugary drinks for lunch; we have water and milk available for children during lunch and snack.

 

So I have given you some resources but do you still need more information or do you have ideas to share with others?   In collaboration with our Health & Wellness Coordinators and Live Well Montezuma, Children's House hopes to being a fun workshop to you in the month of October.  Come see me in the office if you would like to help. 

 

As always, your questions, concerns and ideas are important me; please come see me.

 

Sincerely,
Alexia Hudson-McGrath
Director
Children's House